Your brand is far more than a visual marketing asset. It supercharges your storytelling, elevates your reputation and sparks new attention from customers, partners, talent and investors.
Building your brand edge
Using our CBG:Keystone model, we guide you through a bespoke, structured process designed to maximise the impact your brand has on your growth, and along the way help you build a brand identity that sharpens differentiation, strengthens credibility, and creates a lasting competitive edge.
A keystone is the vital central stone at the apex of an arch that holds all the other stones in place.
Without the keystone, the arch collapses. Similarly, your business needs a unifying brand that brings strength across all aspects of your comms and culture.
We work closely with you to define your brand, starting with a gap analysis across four crucial keystone components:
PURPOSE
The driving force that influences everything you say and do
MESSAGING
The consistent way of communicating your value proposition
AUTHENTICITY
The proof of how your brand shapes ways of working and actions
IDENTITY
The strong, distinctive and easy to use visual representation of your brand
By optimising your Purpose, Messaging, Authenticity and Identity we will build a brand that has Clarity, Distinctiveness and ultimately, Charisma.
It is vital that we go on this Keystone journey together. Through collaborative exploration and decision making you will build a stronger connection with the brand and how to use it with energy and confidence, in a room, online or in other channels. This human energy and confidence are central to the charisma we are ultimately working to create.
CLARITY
Simplify and sharpen your core value proposition – your carefully articulated why, what, how and who.
- Lead with the needs of your target market
- Call out your unique and compelling expertise and IP
- Showcase real world examples of value
- Use language that is easy to understand
DISTINCTIVENESS
Dramatise what makes you different, better, even disruptive.
- Look and feel different to your competitive set
- Build a tone of voice that’s true to you, and different to the rest
- Give intriguing sub-brand identities to unique products or services
- Use fresh comms tactics and channels
CHARISMA
Elevate the energy and confidence in your storytelling to impact how your audience feels about you, understands you, and remembers you.
- Enable more compelling storytelling, on the page and face to face
- Build an internal culture unified around the same brand story
Whether you’re building your brand from scratch, or need help making your existing brand work harder, our specialist team is here for you.
Bespoke by design, CBG:Keystone can be used as a full strategic brand process or applied selectively to specific challenges — from website refreshes and messaging reviews to social media and collateral updates.
CBG:Keystone workshop
Our CBG:Keystone workshop is the starting point on your journey to building a clear, distinctive and charismatic brand.
1. KEYSTONE OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
We begin with a clear view of your current brand reality – how your business is presenting itself today, what feels strong and credible, and where there may be gaps, inconsistencies or missed opportunities. We give a KScore out of 20 to each of the four Keystone components – Purpose, Messaging, Authenticity and Identity – to define where priority optimisation work is needed:
5 – 8 – Low impact – inconsistent or missing core elements
8 – 15 – Moderate impact– some strengths but inconsistent across channels
15 – 20 – High impact – clear personality and strong execution
2. COMPETITIVE EDGE ANALYSIS
We look outward at the competitive landscape to understand if, where and how others in your space are standing out, and where there is white space for your brand to cut through and gain a competitive edge. This helps shape the strategic direction for the next phase of the process.
3. OPTIMISED BRAND FOUNDATIONS
Armed with insights from steps one and two, we collaborate with you to explore potential foundations for your optimised brand. At this stage, everything we’ve uncovered about your purpose, messaging, authenticity, and identity is brought together and considered within the context of your competitive landscape. From there, we begin shaping early ideas and instincts around how your brand could look, feel, and communicate.
4. FEEDBACK SESSION
We provide an in-depth feedback report and host a 1-hour session to discuss our findings, outline our recommendations and agree a practical roadmap for the next stage of your Keystone journey.